THE ROMANIAN BABY BAZAAR

Published: April 21, 1991

Since the overthrow of Ceausescu, Romania has experienced an explosion of xenophobic and nationalistic feeling, most frequently targeted at gypsies, the country's largest and most despised ethnic minority. Burning of gypsy homes, beatings, killings and rapes characterize the brutal violence aimed at gypsies by ordinary citizens, often with open encouragement by police. Subjected to such extreme persecution, compounded by abject poverty, unemployment and miserable living conditions, gypsies face such desperate circumstances that they can be further victimized by the kind of "con men" described in the article.

Without such political and social context, you unwittingly reinforce age-old stereotypes of gypsies ("selling" their children), and do nothing to help draw attention to their desperate plight. TOBY F. SONNEMAN Cashmere, Wash.